


A Fire to Beat Back the Dark

by mage_cat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Gen, just a little something to relieve the tention after the season 2 cliffhangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 13:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18740419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mage_cat/pseuds/mage_cat
Summary: Set immediately after "Reunion".Shadow Weaver has broken into Bright Moon with a message. If Adora doesn't get Catra out of the Fright Zone soon, something permanent may happen to her. It's something Shadow Weaver has feared for years. It's something that will change everything.





	1. Chapter 1

There may come a day when Adora, the mighty She-Ra, stops flinching at shadows. There may come a night when she can sleep soundly alone in a room in the middle of a stronghold without one hand gripping a knife hilt. But that time had not come yet and was only pushed further into her future when she woke in the middle of the night to the sound of her name being called out in an all too familiar voice.

Members of the Rebellion had quickly learned to be careful getting her out of bed in case her nightmares didn't fade quickly enough on waking. They would recognize Adora's actions in this moment, jerking up in bed already swinging a wickedly sharp knife. She only truly took in her surroundings after the blade made contact with Shadow Weaver's hanging sleeve.

Fortunately, Shadow Weaver was surprised enough by the attack that she didn't recover in the heartbeat that it took Adora to come to terms with the fact that this wasn't yet another dream of her former commanding officer and surrogate mother coming to take her from Bright Moon. The younger woman tackled her and had her tangled in the blanket she had been sleeping under in less than a minute.

It was only after her shouted intruder alert was met with the sound of hurried footsteps that she addressed her prisoner.

“What are you doing here?”

“I break out of a cell in the Fright Zone to visit my favorite student, and this is the welcome I get?”

“This is the welcome anyone who breaks into the castle to loom over my bed in the middle of the night gets.” Glimmer, Bow, Queen Angella, and a handful of guards arrived. One of them turned on the lights, giving everyone a clearer view of the situation. “What happened to your mask?”

“Catra happened with Hordak's sanction. I'm surprised that she didn't boast about severing my connection to the Black Garnet to you. I may well be the most powerless person here right now. Catra is his second-in-command for the moment, but it's not a role I prepared her for. You need to get her out of the Fright Zone before something permanent happens to her.”

“Since when do you care what happens to Catra? You hate her.”

“But I'm certain that it would grieve you to hear it if she came to harm.”

After several seconds of uneasy silence, Glimmer pulled Adora aside. “This screams 'trap',” she whispered sharply.

“But what if it's not?” Adora said softly before squaring her shoulders. “I'll take Swift Wind with me. Keep a constant watch on Shadow Weaver. At least two people at all times. Even if her sorcery is on the fritz, that was never the most dangerous thing about her.”

* * *

 

Catra resisted the urge to tear through the room that had once been Shadow Weaver's inner sanctum. The lingering memory of suffocating on the floor in Hordak's lab reminded her that she could not afford to be sloppy. Still, her frustration was starting to get the better of her.

“I guess it's too much to hope for a journal with an entry titled 'If I Ever Have to Escape From the Fright Zone'. I don't...” _have any idea what here is a potential clue and what's just junk_. Catra was glad she had stopped her voice before she finished that thought. The idea of Hordak's little Imp repeating it for him word for word, tone for tone chilled her.

Hordak would have let her die choking on the air of his home planet if Entrapta hadn't stepped in.

“Hey, hey, hey. If this is how you react to a slip up the only logical thing Catra could have done is not tell you until she had tried everything to fix it.”

Hordak grunted. “You may have a point.” He flipped a switch, and Catra gasped as the air changed to something her lungs could respond to again. “You have a three day extension to find Shadow Weaver and bring her to me. While you are doing that, I will search for someone more competent to ensure her transport to Beast Island. If you fail me again, you will be taking her place there.”

Catra shook off the memory as, for the hundredth time since she started searching the room, the Black Garnet caught her attention from the edge of her vision. Shadow Weaver had been so protective of this room and of that stone. She walked up and placed a hand on it, feeling a crackle of energy. “I don't suppose you could tell me anything?”

As if in answer, her hand turned hot, a feeling that traveled up her arm and into her chest, blooming outward until it filled her whole body. She would have called it searing if only for the fact that it didn't actually hurt. Still, it was nearing being too much. It needed a release. It needed…

There was a flare of light in the direction of her free hand. Catra jumped, breaking her hold on the runestone, when she recognized the light as flicking fire. The heat ebbed, but only slightly, which may have had something to do with the fact that no amount of jumping was going to get her away from the flames. They were in her hand, dancing across her palm like she had oil cupped there, assuming that holding flaming oil in her bare hand wouldn't burn her. She rotated her hand, and the fire moved to dance around her fingers. It is hot, of course, but there wasn't any pain. Just like the power she felt from the runestone.

An explanation hit her like a lead weight in her stomach, the fire dousing itself as if in response. “No. No, no, no, no, no. There is no way.”

* * *

 

She had never been so grateful at how easy it was to find Scorpia. She was in Entrapta's lab sorting through some files with Entrapta herself was nowhere in sight when Catra rushed up to her. “I need you to tell me everything you can about the Black Garnet.”

Scorpia blinked, her brain clearly taking a moment to switch to this new track. “There's not much to tell. It's the Fright Zone's runestone. My family gave it to Hordak. It's never worked for any one of us.”

“Why not?”

She fidgeted her claws together. “The history's so old it's basically a legend. My ancestors don't exactly come across as nice people in it.”

“I don't care what your ancestors did!” Catra hoped that this feeling like she was about to explode wasn't showing itself as actual flames coming off of her again.

If it was, Scorpia clearly didn't notice judging by the bright smile as she said, “Really?”

Catra took a deep breath. “Not past it explaining why the Black Garnet doesn't work for you.”

“Okay so, a really long time ago, my family didn't rule the Fright Zone. They ruled the Crimson Waste. But one day, like, a thousand years ago, something happened. Whatever it was made the Waste completely impossible to live in. Maybe it was called something different before. No one remembers.

“Anyway, my ancestors decided to conquer the next kingdom over, as in here. No one's sure what happened to the original royal family anymore. That's been kinda a black mark on us with the other royals ever since, and it turns out that runestones are tied really strongly to family lines, at least to use them the way Princesses do. I don't think the stuff Shadow Weaver or Entrapta have done with the Black Garnet has much to do with what the original royal family could have done with it.”

“Yeah.” Catra said, remembering a distinct lack of fire before today. “I think your right about that.”

“Why did you want to know?”

Catra schooled her expression. “Shadow Weaver's used the Black Garnet so much, I thought knowing more about it might help me track her down. Don't know if something's useful till you try it.” She turned toward the exit. “If anyone asks about me, I'm running down leads. Lord Hordak isn't trusting me with much else right now.”

All she knew right now was that the odds of Hordak being pleased with this development were low. Whatever this was was Princess nonsense, meaning there was only one place she could think to go, if only to walk in circles long enough to clear her head. At least if she burned down part of the Whispering Woods, she wouldn't regret it.

* * *

 

“Tell me again why we are risking going into the Fright Zone for someone who has repeatedly tried to kill you and/or people you care about,” Swift Wind said as Adora pushed a branch aside for him.

“Because she still doesn't deserve whatever Hordak is going to do to her. Because I think she's only ever attacked us to win Hordak's favor in the first place. And because she keeps stopping before she actually does us any permanent damage. She's not evil. I can't bring myself to think of her as evil. Not really.”

“And why are we walking through the Whispering Woods instead of flying over them?”

“To give myself as much time as I can to talk myself out of walking into a Horde trap. You are welcome to join in making me realize that this is a terrible idea.”

* * *

 

Back at Bright Moon, Glimmer and Bow had armed themselves and taken first watch over Shadow Weaver.

“I recognize that staff,” Shadow Weaver said. Glimmer narrowed her eyes at her. “And that glare of righteous indignation. Anyone who knew poor Micah could tell that you are his daughter. He was the most talented pupil I ever had during my time in Mystacor. Though it seems that all of my students are destined to disappoint me in the end.”

“Gee,” Bow said flatly, “maybe the problem is you.”

“No. I don't see how that could be.”

Castaspella had already been contacted, everyone reasoning that it would take sorcerers to best handle someone who had once been one of their own. She couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

 

Catra had done her best not to draw suspicion as she left the Fright Zone for the Whispering Woods. Unfortunately, that also meant taking no supplies with her. There was enough moonlight that navigating most of the Woods wasn't difficult, but as she passed through an area with a particularly dense canopy, she finally nearly tripped one time too many and tried to summon a flame to her hand again. It was almost unnerving how easy it was. She just wished that the resulting shadows didn't move so much. Only a minute of walking later, Catra found herself facing a structure somewhere between a cottage and a hut and caught the attention of an elderly woman with wild hair and thick glasses who had been about to enter it, a basket full of some sort of vegetation in her hand.

“Ah, a Magicat girl! Who makes her own light! It's been a long time since someone in your family has stopped by to see Madam Razz. Welcome, Princess.”

She winced and doused the flames. “Please, just call me Catra.”

“Welcome, Catra. Come in, and I'll make tea.”

“Oh, you don't have to...”

“Do you have someplace better to be tonight?”

She briefly considered her options: tea or more walking with no real destination. “I really don't.”

“Good! I don't get visitors very often, and you can start a fire under the kettle for me.”

The inside was cluttered but… cozy. That wasn't a word Catra had used for a whole room before. She had mostly used it for various crawlspaces she had discovered around the Fright Zone that she had once had the habit of hiding in. Then she grew too much, and nowhere she could still fit had the security of knowing that no one with the right to order her around could get in as well.

“You seem like you've had a hard day, likely a hard few days. Madame Razz can mix up something calming. Best to leave out the catnip this time though. Sure you want to keep your wits about you.”

“That sounds good,” Catra said not entirely sure what Madame Razz was chattering about as she examined the wood and tinderbox by what seemed to be the main cooking space and did her best to remember her survival training so she could build a fire that would keep burning without her feeding power into it. Glimmer had talked so much about her need to recharge. Who knew how long it would be before Catra would be able to get close to the Black Garnet again?

She smiled as a light touch from her finger made a small spark that spread from a bit of fluff to one of the logs, starting a merry crackle.

“You said you knew someone in my family?” she asked standing up. The words 'my family' sat strangely on her tongue. She had still been a small child when she had stopped letting herself daydream about such a thing.

“Oh, that was long ago. Nearly as long as it's been since the last time I saw my Mara. Nearly a thousand years. She said that she was taking her children and her people as far away as she could get. I'm still a bit surprised that it took this long for one of you to get back.”

“My first memories aren't far from here.” No need to mention the Horde to the nice old lady if she hadn't noticed the Force Captain's badge yet. “I was raised with a bunch of other orphans. No one there ever looked even a little like me.”

“There aren't many of my species around these days either. It's hard for us to have children. Sort of a balance to the fact that we live so long. It can be a special kind of lonely, even with other people around. Oh, but the Whispering Woods brings all the visitors Madame Razz could want. Why, only a few weeks ago there was another Princess that come by here full of questions. Nice girl. Big sword.” The kettle whistled, and Madame Razz got up to pour the water into two mugs that she had measured her tea mixture into earlier. She motioned Catra to sit down and placed one of the mugs in front of her.

Catra stared into the water, watching it slowly change color. “I don't want any of this Princess mess.”

“It's rare for a Princess to be eager to take up her duties. They are responsibilities that weigh heavy on young shoulders. Still, most grow into the burden.”

She sighed. “Hasn't my life had enough burdens already? I spent my childhood getting yelled at and threatened by someone who was apparently drawing her power from my own runestone. I've nearly died more than once. I just want to land in a place where it all stops for a while.”

“Sounds to Madame Razz like that someone was trying very hard to keep you from your power so she could take it for herself.”

“Well, that didn't work for her. Shadow Weaver's connection to the Black Garnet is broken. I made sure of that.” Catra almost smiled at the memory. It had been satisfying, even if the satisfaction hadn't lasted.

“See! You've protected your runestone once already. That's a good start. The runestones need to be used. Why shouldn't you be the one to use it? Are you afraid of power?”

“Of course not!”

“Then why is being a Princess a bad thing? Princesses are the most powerful people on Etheria.”

“It still just means more fighting, and different fighting that I'm not used to. Princesses took the most important person in my world from me. Since then I've done things that I doubt they'll forgive me for.”

“They won't have much choice. All of the runestones are needed for the harmony of Etheria, and that means all the Princesses tied to them are needed. They may not be too friendly, but they can't hurt you. You don't seem to Madame Razz like someone who would wilt away at a few cold shoulders. Will your important person be there?”

“Yeah, she'll be there.”

“Do you not think she will be even a little happy to see you?”

“She's been trying to convince me to join her since she left.”

“Helping to bring Etheria back into it's intended harmony seems to Madame Razz like the best chance at peace that you're going to get. Your tea should be ready to drink. Not that you, of all people, have to worry about it getting cold.”

* * *

 

Adora and Swift Wind had reached a lull in their debating when they came across a landmark that they both recognized, a home that clearly had its fires lit against the night.

Adora called out, “Madame Razz?”

The woman in question soon appeared in the doorway and began chattering amiably as she came towards them. “Ah, Mara you're back! No, not my Mara. Adora. And Swift Wind. Forgive an old woman. I have a Magicat Princess visiting for the first time in a thousand years, and it is bringing me back to old times. She's just connected with the Black Garnet, and she's a little overwhelmed. Much like you were when you found that sword. Do you know how you can tell you are dealing with Magicat royalty? You can't go by how they act. Oh no, catch any Magicat in the wrong mood, and they will be prideful to measure up against any queen. No, it's the eyes. Their eyes never match each other.”

“Magicat?” Adora said, taking a moment to process the stream of words that had just flown past her. “Eyes? Catra?”

“Hey Adora.” She had been so focused on Madame Razz that Adora hadn't noticed the second figure that had started following her once she was half-way to them. Now, the sound of the familiar voice caught her attention along with a plume of fire that bloomed from the figure's hand to illuminate a pair of blue and yellow eyes.

“Catra, you're...”

“A walking torch,” she said dryly.

Adora grinned. “And a Princess.”

“And too closely watched in the Fright Zone to have a chance of kicking Hordak out of my kingdom from inside the Horde. I may need some help. Know where I can get that?”

“Hey, what do you know?” said Swift Wind. “Best case scenario!”

Catra turned her attention towards him. “Talking horse. Cool. Nice to meet you.”

“Nicer to meet you than I was expecting, too.” He turned to Adora. “See this is the sort of reaction I should be getting more often instead of people screaming.”

Adora gave him a playful shove before telling Catra. “The Rebellion actually already had a scheduled meeting in the morning,” her expression turned serious, “and there's something else you should know about.”


	2. Chapter 2

By the time the trio arrived at Bright Moon about an hour before dawn, Bow and Glimmer had gone back to bed, letting others take over their watch duties. Queen Angella was awake, however, and willing to accept Adora telling her that the best place to update her on how the night's mission had gone was the edge of the Whispering Woods.

As they approached where Swift Wind and Catra had hidden themselves from easy view, the sound of a lively, if hushed, conversation could be heard. Adora could have sworn that the phrase 'beast-kin discrimination' was somewhere in there. She made a point to say something somewhat loud and largely pointless to Queen Angella, alerting the two of their arrival. By the time they were all in sight of each other, Catra had taken on the stance of a cadet awaiting an officer's displeasure, back straight and head bowed.

It was a pose Adora had seen her take countless times, often out of the corner of her eye while she did the same, but this was the first time she saw it and found herself wondering how much it hurt Catra's pride to take it. The subservience required of them as budding soldiers that had felt harsh but necessary at the time seemed much more cruel when applied to a Princess with fire in her heart, and whatever else they had been told, that was what Catra had always been. How bad of a friend had she been for not realizing how much it had hurt Catra sooner?

Still, the stance was the best choice for someone asking for permission to enter the castle she had led an attack on barely more than a month before, and Adora and Swift Wind flanking her helped give Catra credibility while she explained Hordak's displeasure with her and the actions that led her to coming into contact with the Black Garnet. A flame from her hand lit her face as she told the queen, “The Fright Zone is my home, more than I ever realized, and I want Hordak out of it.”

That was how Catra came to enter Bright Moon hidden under a hooded cloak to prevent panic in whoever might catch sight of her until she could present her case to the Rebellion at large.

* * *

 

“I have made contact with a previously unknown Princess who has connected with the Black Garnet,” Adora announced to the gathered rebels.

“Scorpia's not unknown,” said Frosta.

“It's not Scorpia.”

“Besides,” Glimmer said, “no one in Scorpia's family has ever been able to use the Black Garnet, not in any recorded history anyway.” She turned back to Adora “Where is she?”

“Nearby, but first you all have to understand. The only reason she was able to even get close to the Black Garnet at all is because she first worked her way far up into the Hoard's ranks.”

“Did you know her?” asked Perfuma.

“Will you vouch for her?” asked Frosta.

Adora bit her lip. “When I was in the Horde, there wasn't anyone I trusted more. Since I've joined the Rebellion… She would say we were stupid if we didn't keep a close eye on her.”

Bow and Glimmer looked uneasy. Adora had barely spoken to them over the course of the morning, saying that it was best to wait for the meeting to fill everyone in at once, but the two of them were going to put the pieces together quickly now.

Mermista was the first one to speak up. “At least she sounds honest. I like her already.”

Catra appeared through a well-concealed service door and walked up to stand by Adora. “I think that's as good as I'm going to get.”

Glimmer stood up, her hands on the table. “Catra?! Catra is the new Princess?!”

“Yeah,” Catra said holding her hands out. She let the flames build there until they were high enough that everyone at the table could clearly see them and her control of them. “It shocked me too.”

“And for the record, I don't know of any Horde tech that can do that. She's not faking.”

“Just so we're clear,” Perfuma said as Catra brought her hands together to smother the flames. “This is the same Catra who you once said would kill us all in front of you to make you suffer.”

“Wow, Adora, I don't know whether to be glad to hear you think I have the skills to pull that off or upset at your opinion of my morals.” Catra figured that pointing out that the gathered Rebellion members would be of more use to the Horde as hostages than martyrs wouldn't be useful at the moment.

“I'm just glad to hear you admit that you have morals.” Adora gave a wan smile. “I was describing a worst case scenario. You angry at me is always a worst case scenario.”

“Look, everyone, I know you all are going to be suspicious of me. I would be too. So here's something that may ease your minds a bit. This isn't actually a big priority shift for me. My plan was always to take control of the Fright Zone and the Horde away from Hordak. I may have been raised to be a Horde soldier, but I dream of never having to take orders from anyone ever again.”

Catra looked around the table, seeing her words sink in with the desired effect. For Adora that meant a look of grim understanding. For most of the others it meant a look of dawning realization. As children, they may have had to listen to their parents or other caretakers. In the years since, they may have agreed to plans that included taking direction from people with information or understanding that they lacked. But no one had ever, ever taken away their choice to say ‘No.’ The question ‘Why?’ had never been meet with ‘Because I said so,’ followed by the threat of punishment for their insolence. Every one of them was clearly thinking about how they would have chafed under being forced to live such a life. A few of them may have even moved on to realize that if Catra had come to them under any other circumstances, as anything other than a fellow Princess looking to take back her land, she would have been subordinate to them. However kindly or playfully worded, there had always been a chance that one of the Princesses would pull rank, making them no different from any Horde officer as far as she had been concerned.

She continued, “Before, the plan was to impress Hordak, and be such a good officer that he named me his successor, and no one would question it if he met an untimely end shortly after. But now, I have a claim that has nothing to do with Hordak, so instead of waiting to stab him in the back, I can go ahead and stab him in the front. And if you all help me do it… Well, that will make diplomatic relations between the Hoard and the Rebellion go a whole lot smoother afterwards. Won't it?”

“The main duty of any She-Ra is to maintain the harmony of Etheria by working with the Princesses, all of them. Being Catra's enemy confirmed something I already knew. That she is a highly capable combatant and the best tactician I know. I want her on our side. I need her on our side.”

“What about trust?” Glimmer asked.

“Trust can be earned.” Adora said.

“It's a bit hard to repair after it's been broken though,” said Catra, “but I'm willing to try if you are. I can probably get you Scorpia. Entrapta will be a harder sell.”

Perfuma's eyes widened. “Entrapta's alive?!”

“You didn't tell them? That's cold,” Catra said in Glimmer and Bow's direction before turning back to Perfuma. “Yeah, I found her crawling around in the ductwork two days after your rescue mission. Between the Horde's advanced technology and the First Ones' tech I've been swiping for her, I'm pretty sure she's never been happier. As long as she can keep making Hordak's machines work better than he can, she's his favorite.”

“We offered to rescue her,” Glimmer said. “She turned us down. And she's the one who froze the Whispering Woods.”

“She was really excited for the chance to 'hack the planet'. Now she's working on Hordak's portal technology along with weapon design.”

“A portal to what?” asked Bow.

“Where he came from as far as I can piece together. All I know about that is that he made a machine to mimic the air of the place to make some of his tech work better.” Thinking of the machine in action made her rub her throat at the memory. “And I can't breathe it.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment until Frosta said, “If he wants to leave Etheria, that could solve most of our problems.”

“If he wants to bring in reinforcements, that could make things a lot worse for us,” said Bow.

“It's best if we stop him before he gets it working, and I'm not just saying that because I want to secure access to the Black Garnet,” said Catra.

“Yeah, and our last mission into the Fright Zone went so well,” said Mermista.

“See,” said Catra, “your problem then was that there are two people on Etheria who know the Fright Zone better than anyone else. Before, you only had one of them. Now, you have both. Plus, the Horde is now minus Shadow Weaver, and she was their only magic-user.”

Glimmer asked, “Does Hordak know you're here?”

“As far as anyone in the Horde knows, I'm chasing Shadow Weaver. With the deadline on me, it will morning after tomorrow before anyone should officially care where I am. The only person I talked to about the Black Garnet before I left was Scorpia, and she should have bought my story that I just hoped that whatever information she had about it might help me track our escaped prisoner. I still can't believe she came here.”

“Shadow Weaver knows she's in my head,” said Adora. “She just misjudged how. Maybe if she realized how many of my nightmares revolve around her, she wouldn't have thought breaking into my room in the middle of the night was such a good idea.”

“And you're the one she liked.”

“She thought I was a more useful tool. That's different.”

“So how exactly did Shadow Weaver go from second-in-command to prisoner? That sort of feels like a hole in your story,” said Glimmer.

“She kept devoting time and resources to bringing back Adora after Hordak told her to stop. That got her on his bad side. The breaking point was how she reacted to Entrapta experimenting with the Black Garnet. She felt that, because she had been the only one drawing power from it for years, it was hers. Hordak felt otherwise.”

“Yes,” said Castaspella as she entered the room, “whether she is called Shadow Weaver or Light Spinner, that woman does not like to give up power. I'm glad to know her days of terrorizing people are over.”

“Castaspella, this is Catra,” Adora said. “She was my friend in the Horde, and we just found out that she's the Princess linked to the Black Garnet.”

“With Shadow Weaver talents, she likely figured that out a very long time ago. I'm sure her attentions were very close and unpleasant.”

“To say the least,” said Catra.

“I want to get her behind proper magical wards as quickly as possible. I'm sure you both would rather see her leave instead of finding out that I spirited her away while you were in the middle of a meeting.” Casta's gaze drifted meaningfully to Queen Angella, who had, to this point been silently observing the proceedings.

Angella said, “Seeing as how this has turned from a simple weekly update to a potentially more complicated planning meeting, I suggest that we reconvene after a break, assuming that everyone is agreed to allowing Princess Catra to be part of our plans.”

Most of the voices that came from around the table were reluctant, others were grumbling, but none of them said no.

Adora placed a hand on Catra's shoulder. “Welcome to the Rebellion.”

* * *

 

Adora's hand was still there as the two walked into the room were Shadow Weaver was being guarded with Castaspella following behind them, though their expressions were considerably more somber.

“Ah, Catra,” Shadow Weaver purred. “I knew Adora would be able to capture you if she put her mind to it.”

“I wasn't captured,” Catra replied, stepping away from Adora's hand. “I asked to come here. I know why you sent her after me though. I think it's the same reason you've ever done anything to me. You were trying to stop this.” She snapped and a small flame sprouted from a single fingertip, causing Shadow Weaver to tense. Catra moved and leaned forward until the fire was within inches of the broken mask. “You spent my life terrorizing me trying to make sure that this never happened. Trying to make sure I would never be as powerful as I could be. I would be justified in anything I wanted to do to you.” She blew out the flame. “But you're not worth the energy. You spent all those years scared of a child who could take your power from you. That makes you too pathetic to hate.”

“I should have had you thrown out of the Horde as soon as I realized your link to the Black Garnet.” Shadow Weaver snapped. “Adora's fondness for you and Hordak's plans be damned. What could possibly be the point of keeping a hostage against the good behavior of the queen of an exiled people?”

Catra's breath hitched for the moment before she recovered, straightening her back. “Your baiting me. You may even be baiting me with the truth. The thing is, as of now, you haven't said anything I didn't already know or could have guessed, and you likely aren't the best place I could find out the rest for sure. In the past day, I've learned more about where I came from than from a lifetime of listening to you. You would think that the woman who taught me the story of 'The Lookout Who Cried Princess' would have been more careful with her lies.”

Adora stepped forward, taking Catra's hand for comfort. “You're our past. We survived you. Now we have bigger problems to deal with, and a better world to make.”

Castaspella seemed to take that as her cue. “Shadow Weaver, formerly known as Light Spinner, you are under arrest for providing aid to an enemy of Etheria and the gross mishandling of the education of two potential magic-users, among other crimes.” As she used a fine chain, shining with magic, to bind the fallen sorceress’s hands behind her back she said, “I only wish Micah was here to see this.”

Shadow Weaver turned to Catra one last time. “I look forward to hearing about the first thing you burn down. I'm sure it will be a spectacular conflagration and a complete accident.” With a final shove from Casta, they departed.

Adora and Catra watched as they, along with several other sorcerers that had arrived from Mystacor as part of the escort, disappeared around a turn in the corridor. Bow, Glimmer, and Angella, who had been waiting outside the doorway, watched with them.

“Are you both alright?” the queen asked.

Catra had been taking slow, deep breaths. “I don't suppose that there's a training ground around here where we could set something up for me to burn down and get it over with?”

Queen Angella gave a small smile. “I think we can arrange something.”

* * *

 

Catra looked out on the training ground where there stood a dozen wooden crosses that had been draped in black and red fabric, each topped with a stuffed sack that had been crudely painted with an unmistakable mask. “You made me a bunch of Shadow Weavers.” Bow must have worked like a man possessed to put together so many while the rest of them had eaten lunch. She had been expecting something more along the lines of a hastily assembled pile of scrap wood. This level of thought was surprisingly touching.

“And I stuffed them with the driest straw I could find. Seriously, I only spent a few hours last night guarding her, and that was enough to make me look forward to watching this. It's not my best work, but I figured this was a quantity over quality sort of job.”

“I officially apologize for that time I threw you off a cliff. I'm sure you think other stuff I did was worse, but that was business. Messing with you guys playing hostage was fun.”

“Hey could you make me one of these?” Glimmer asked. “I know a single torture session and a few days of lingering curse is kinda nothing compared to being raised by her, but she said some stuff about my dad last night, and I have some aggression to work out.”

“I'll let you have two of mine.”

Glimmer accepted the peace offering with a smile and summoned her staff.

“That could leave five for each of us,” Adora noted.

“You get four, I get six, and you let me torch what you leave behind.”

“Sounds fair.” She readied her sword while Catra summoned flames to both her fists.

Shadow Weaver was right about one thing. It was a spectacular conflagration.

 


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Catra was conscious of the next morning was Bow's voice. “It seems like a shame to wake them up.” Adora had made a very convincing argument that waking up to Shadow Weaver the night before made her nervous about sleeping alone.

“I know.” That was Glimmer. “This is cuter than I was expecting. I swear, when I first came in, I heard Catra purring.” As long as it was a favor to Adora, Catra would never have to admit how good it felt to be curled up next to her again.

Bow again. “Do you think she wakes up as jumpy as Adora?” That was new. If anything Adora had always been the heavier sleeper of the two of them. Though of course every cadet was trained to wake up quickly when necessary, and the Horde frequently claimed it was necessary even if it normally meant they were hurrying in order to wait for the proper officer to show up. Catra just liked feigning sleep as a form of information gathering.

“If she does, do you think her claws would do more damage than that knife wound Adora gave me her first week here?”

“They look so comfortable. I wonder if they used to do this a lot. When Adora said she wasn't used to sleeping alone, I just thought she meant alone in the room.”

Alright, that was enough. Catra stretched herself out until her face was even with Adora's. “Hey, Adora. Bow and Glimmer are going to keep speculating about us until you wake up.” She saw Adora's eyes slide open and noted that there was, in fact, a slight flinch as she adjusted to wakefulness that didn't used to be there. “Did you really shank Glimmer your first week here?”

“It really wasn't much more than a scratch,” Glimmer said, her face flushing.

Adora let out a sleepy grunt. “Turns out I don't sleep well alone. Don't knock to reflex too hard. It's part of what let us catch Shadow Weaver.”

She let the matter drop and sat up. “So, any plans I should know about today?”

The afternoon meeting the day before had quickly turned into a debriefing, slightly too polite for Catra to call it an interrogation. However briefly she had held any power in the Horde, even if she had been haphazardly piecing together the bits of the Force Captain orientation she had missed, she still had delivered more information about the Horde's inner workings than the Rebellion had had since before the first alliance had fallen apart. It had been embarrassing for Catra to see Queen Angella's expression harden as she had to admit that she had only just barely started to get a handle on the system of requisition orders and material sources that Shadow Weaver had been maintaining before her fall from Hordak's good graces, but everyone seemed more or less satisfied in the end. Now it was a matter of balancing preparation time for an attack on the Fright Zone against the time it would take for the information to become obsolete.

As soon as the sun had gone down and shortly after the other Princesses had headed back to their homelands to see to local matters, both Catra and Adora had been hit with just how little sleep they had gotten the night before. Best as Catra could now tell from the quality of the light, they had crashed early enough in the evening that the time they were now waking wasn't terribly late.

“Light Hope is expecting me for training today,” said Adora.

“We don't have anything really solid planned,” Glimmer said. “Just seeing to routine duties.”

“I'll follow you into the Whispering Woods for a bit, Adora, then activate my tracker in my badge. Scorpia's probably gotten worried by now. Unless she has explicit orders to be doing something else, she'll be looking for me. Best to give her something to find.”

“I'm staying with you until that's done. She may have the rest of the squad with her, and even if you're right about being able to win Scorpia over, I doubt Lonnie's opinion of you has changed that much.”

* * *

Adora and Catra sat among the roots of large tree near the Fright Zone edge of the Whispering Woods. Bow and Glimmer lurked somewhere nearby as back-up in case Scorpia did, in fact, have the whole of Adora's old squad with her.

Catra fingered in badge she was wearing. “This is what stopped me from following you the day you left, you know. Shadow Weaver didn't believe me when I said I didn't know where you had gone, and when I wasn't able to bring you back, she hauled me in front of Hordak. I thought something terrible was going to happen to me. Then he gave me your promotion and told Shadow Weaver off for ignoring my potential. I got my first taste of being out of your shadow. It was hard to think of giving that up.”

“It's kind of amazing how much evil we can ignore when we're told how good we are at it.” Adora thought for a beat. “I really never did see you as my sidekick.”

“Doesn't matter. Everyone else did, our squad, our trainers. Shadow Weaver was invested in it. The entire time I was Force Captain, she was very clear that the second you came back, I was going to be demoted in favor of you. It didn't matter what I did or what you did.”

“She's gone now. It's hard to really believe, but she's gone. Nothing but bad dreams.” Adora smirked. “Besides, I think it's safe to say that a walking torch doesn't have to worry about being in anyone's shadow.”

Catra felt a warm glow in her chest. “I guess you're right.”

Scoripia's voice began to reach them though the woods, calling for Catra. Adora hid behind the tree as Catra started to call out in response.

Once Scorpia was in view, she rushed up and drew Catra into a hug. “Catra! You're safe! I thought maybe you had gotten hurt or captured or something, but I should have known you could handle anything that happened.”

Catra squirmed her way out of the tight embrace, but she was smiling. “Sorry about that. I would have given you more warning before I left, but it wasn't safe for me to talk in the Fright Zone.” She glanced around to make sure Scorpia really was alone, her expression sobering. “Those old family legends, do they say what element the Black Garnet controlled?”

Scorpia looked puzzled at the shift in topic. “No, that's been forgotten.”

Catra held a handful of flames up for her to see. “What if I told you it was fire?”

“Oh wow,” Scorpia said softly. “I always knew you were something special, Wildcat.”

“I can't pretend to keep being Hordak's loyal soldier. I'm not that good a liar.” Catra doused the flames then removed the Force Captain's badge from her chest and held it up between two of her fingers. A red glow spread around the rim before the circuitry began to overheat and spark. Once it let out a small plume of smoke, she placed it in Scorpia's claw.

“Hordak can consider that my resignation. Tell him that if he wants Shadow Weaver on Beast Island so badly, he will have to take it up with the sorcerers on Mystacor. I won't be turning myself in to take her place. But don't tell him about me being tied to the Black Garnet. It may give him ideas.”

“Where will you go?”

“The Rebellion is willing to have me.” Adora, Bow, and Glimmer all appeared out from behind the trees. “And they're willing to listen to me when I vouch for you.”

Scorpia lowered her voice. “I told you I don't really get along with other Princesses.”

“Because of stuff your family did before you were born. That's messed up, but they admit that it's messed up, and they promise to give you a fair chance.” She put a hand on Scorpia's arm. “You're pure sunshine. You'll win them over faster than I will. I hope you won't leave me to be the only Princess at Bright Moon with a tail.”

Adora stepped closer. “The last Sh-Ra messed up a lot of things on Etheria. I'm trying to fix them. Our last clue pointed us to the Crimson Waste. What happened there may be what drove your ancestors out. I need to go there, and the land's rightful Princess could be helpful. We have to live with the mistakes of the people who came before us, but we don't have to keep repeating them.”

“What do you say?” Catra said. “Up for redeeming your family name?”

Scorpia bit her lip, making Catra wonder if there wasn't something that she hadn't known to take into account. She hoped it was just discomfort at being put on the spot.

“You don't have to answer now, but you'll be welcome when you come. Don't tell Entrapta about me and the Black Garnet either. She's too likely to slip something to Hordak if she thinks it's scientifically relevant. You could tell her that the Rebellion misses her though. Perfuma seems especially upset about how things went down. I don't want to break up the Best Pals Team any more than you do, but the Horde only exists to serve Hordak. If we want something for ourselves, we have to leave.”

“I understand.” Scorpia smiled softly. “I'll see you again soon, Wildcat. Stay safe until then.”

The rebels watched her as she retreated through the trees and back toward the Fright Zone.

“She has a thing for you. Like, a romantic thing,” said Bow.

“That's why she'll come to Bright Moon. She may even be able to talk Entrapta into coming with her. Either way, Hordak doesn't understand what he's up against now.”

**Author's Note:**

> We’re bound to this struggle,  
> With mighty sword and flame,  
> We’ll never fail you when you call our name


End file.
